{"id":203821,"date":"2019-02-25T01:21:42","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T06:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=203821"},"modified":"2019-02-25T01:21:42","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T06:21:42","slug":"u-s-wont-allow-performance-of-newfoundland-play-about-man-with-disability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/02\/25\/u-s-wont-allow-performance-of-newfoundland-play-about-man-with-disability\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. won’t allow performance of Newfoundland play about man with disability"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security rejected a detailed application to bring Paul David Power’s autobiographical play \u201cCrippled\u201d to a San Francisco theatre. (Photo<\/a>: Power Productions\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. \u2013 A Newfoundland playwright says his failed two-year battle for a visa to perform in the United States speaks to the barriers facing independent artists telling diverse stories.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security rejected a detailed application to bring Paul David Power’s autobiographical play \u201cCrippled\u201d to a San Francisco theatre.<\/p>\n

Despite providing formal requests from the theatre company and recommendations from Canadian artists and scholars attesting to the play’s attributes, authorities said the application failed to prove its \u201ccultural uniqueness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Power, the play’s writer and star, said the decision shows a lack of understanding about the rarity of seeing complex stories about disability presented on stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel the dots just aren’t being connected of why this would be culturally unique and I think it’s a lack of understanding of disability,\u201d Power said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like a lot of bureaucratic barriers that shouldn’t be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Power was first invited to bring \u201cCrippled\u201d to San Francisco in 2017 after Exit Theater’s artistic director saw the work at a New Brunswick festival.<\/p>\n

Procuring a visa to make the trip happen, however, turned out to be more complicated than anticipated.<\/p>\n

Power said he and his small company of five people were limited in their options and chose to apply under the classification of cultural uniqueness.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrippled\u201d is based on Power’s experiences growing up with a physical disability in rural Newfoundland and later St. John’s. The story also explores Power’s grief after the death of his long-term partner.<\/p>\n

The play has been well-received by critics and audiences and made accessibility a key aspect of the performance, providing American sign language interpretation and audio description.<\/p>\n

But officials said the materials did not prove to be of cultural uniqueness or benefit for the U.S., and suggested the quoted experts, representing organizations like the\u00a0Canada\u00a0Council for the Arts, had not proven their expertise in the area.<\/p>\n

The rejection letter also said the U.S. theatre companies hoping to host \u201cCrippled\u201d had not submitted appropriate materials proving all the performances would be \u201cculturally unique events.\u201d<\/p>\n

Power said the next step is to appeal the decision, and there is growing support from arts communities in\u00a0Canada\u00a0and the U.S.<\/p>\n

Exit Theater launched an online petition, proposing a policy allowing theatre artists into the United States to perform for up to 30 days per year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is virtually impossible for indie theatre artists from another country to perform legally in the United States,\u201d the petition read.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe immigration policy for artists is unduly restrictive, does not protect the security of the U.S., and impedes international cultural exchange.\u201d<\/p>\n

Power said he hopes the situation highlights the difficulty low-budget Canadian artists have sharing their work with wider audiences.<\/p>\n

And putting aside his play’s themes and representation of life with a disability, Power said he is most frustrated that he and his colleagues have had to jump through bureaucratic hoops to prove \u201cCrippled\u201d is a high-quality work of art that deserves to be seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe driving force behind the invitation by Exit Theater was, it’s a wonderful piece of theatre that they wanted as part of their season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not a disabled actor trying to make his way. It’s a really high-quality, good play, and we have the reviews and public feedback about it,\u201d Power said. \u201cIt should be about the art form.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. \u2013 A Newfoundland playwright says his failed two-year battle for a visa to perform in the United …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":203823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,2,106,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-203821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","category-news","mauthors-holly-mckenzie-sutter","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}